Why Do I Pay CAJA? The Costa Rican Government Didn’t

Costa Rica News – As a citizen of a country, be it the United States or Costa Rica, it is really hard to for a person with half a brain to understand the bad examples being set by said governments. Why do governments get a pass on running businesses into the ground?

CAJA or Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, which is national social security and health fund is a required payment for each and every employee for businesses in Costa Rica. It is also required if you are seeking legal residency in Costa Rica. A person can not obtain any form of residency without proof of CAJA coverage.

With all that being said the Costa Rican government did not make payments from 2008 to 2012.

Evaluations are still pending to decide the amount, but courts ruled on May 12th of this year that the State needs to pay the Costa Rican Department of Social Insurance, or CCSS in Spanish,out of the profit made in public businesses.

The lawsuit was filed by Ex-presidential candidate and ex-congressman Jose Maria Villalta, who has vowed to fight for the country and its people even though he was not elected. Local laws that protect workers establish that the public sector must pay the social insurance department 15% of its profit towards the system’s disability, old age and death pension regimen. These payments go toward helping the CCSS care for uninsured people in extreme poverty.

The payments were not made from 2008 to 2012, as they should have been. The court ruled that 7.5% of the utilities from these years would need to be paid, instead of the normal 15%. The state will now have to work with the court to figure out how much is owed exactly, as well as when the payments need to be made, but the process could take quite a while.

The government still has time to appeal and is working on getting all paperwork together to do so. All parties are clear that the government had a large deficit during this time, which began in 2008, but the amount needs to be paid.

If you are business in Costa Rica in Costa Rica you do not get a break from paying CAJA if you are losing money, why should the government? Perhaps this will push them to start running the public businesses in a capitalistic manner or turn it over to the private sector.